Horizontal blade weeding hoe



p 1957 H. N. LECKENBY 2,787,204

HORIZONTAL BLADE WEEDING HOE Filed July 6; 1953 a mmvrox HAe/W A/. LEUKENBY A r roe/v5 Y5 United States Patent HORIZONTAL BLADE WEEDING HOE,

Harry N. Leckenby, Duvall, Wash.

Application July 6, 1953, Serial No. 366,131

1 Claim. (Cl. 97-68) This invention concerns a weeding tool of the character which operates wholly beneath and parallel with the ground surface, and severs the roots of weeds, in addition to stirring up the surface layer of dirt.

Numerous such tools have been provided heretofore, of which some are of such cubic bulk as to obstruct appreciably the movement of the tool through the earth and beneath the surface. In contrast, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a tool the blade of which is wholly fiat throughout its entire area, and to which the handle is connected in such a way, at a single point, that these several factors contribute to the ease of movement of the tool through the earth.

In other such tools of the same general nature, the tools are provided with sharpened forward and rearward edges, as is the case in the present tool. However, either the handle in prior tools is so connected to the blade at multiple points of support as to create material resistance to movement of the tool through the ground, or else the shape of the blade has been so narrow at the single point of securement that the blade has been weakened, and there is a tendency for it to break through at the point of securement. In contrast, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide a single point of connection of the handle to the blade, of slight bulk, and yet to provide a blade form so related to this point of securement as to afford additional strength at the point of securement, and so to minimize or substantially eliminate breakage at this point.

It is preferred that the sharpened edges of the blade be always curved, and in former tools of the same general nature in which curved edges are employed, the curvature has generally been such that the resistance of roots, the earth, and other obstacles which the blade encounters in being drawn through the earth are directed outwardly toward the side points of the blade when the tool is pushed forwardly, but are concentrated inwardly toward the point of weakness where the handle attaches, by the curvature employed when the tool is pulled toward the user. In contrast, it is an object of this invention to provide such a curved edge tool in which the resistance forces are directed outwardly, and so away from the point of securement, regardless of whether the tool is pushed forwardly or drawn rearwardly in use.

Speaking generally, it is an object of the invention to provide a tool of the nature indicated, which shall be of simple construction, simply assembled, yet with all parts secure and rigid one part with another, and capable of manufacture with a minimum of expense and difliculty.

With such objects in mind, and others as will appear hereinafter, the present invention comprises the novel tool shown in the accompanying drawings and as will be more fully explained and claimed hereinafter, and in particular concerns the shape of the blade in such a tool.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the tool with the handle shortened.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the tool, the blade being shown in section at the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the blade, showing a portion of the handle attachment in place, but broken off.

The tool comprises in general a handle which, when held naturally, slopes downwardly and forwardly from the users hands, and which terminates in a downward tang which meets the upper surface of a blade, which is flat throughout its entire area, in such way that when secured to the blade, as of course it is when completely assembled, will hold the blade flat to the surface of the earth. The blade is elongate transversely and its forward edge is curved convexly on a long radius, whereas its rear edge is concavely and doubly curved, the two curves meeting at a rearwardly directed point located behind the point of securement of the handle to the blade. The manner of securement of the handle to the blade is such that the blade is so rigid with the tang of the handle as to resist rotational forces, has no appreciable projection below the lower surface of the blade, and above the blade presents to the earth in which the blade is buried merely a single reasonably slight obstruction. The

point of securement is chosen at the'midpoint transversely,

of the blade and at the point of greatest width of the blade, so to provide greatest strength in the blade at the point of securement.

The handle 1 may be of wood and of whatever length desired. While it might be short and used as a tool by a kneeling gardener, preferably it is a long handle, so that the tool may be used by a standing person in the same manner as a hoe or mop. At its lower or forward end the handle receives a tang 2, the handle being reinforced by a ferrule 3, and the tang is provided with a downturned terminus 4, which at its extremity is squared, as indicated at 5, or otherwise formed in a non-circular fashion.

The blade, generally indicated by the numeral 6, is of rather appreciable transverse width, and by way of example it may be stated that in a representative form the blade is approximately eight inches from side to side. It is of narrower width in the direction of the length of the handle, being, perhaps, one and one-half to two inches wide. It is fiat throughout its entire extent, and its forward edge, indicated at 7, is convexly curved on a long radius so that the midpoint of the curve is directed forwardly. The rear edge is doubly convexly curved, as indicated at 8a and 8]). Each such curve intersects the curve 7 at the extreme points 9a and 9b, and the two curves 8a and 8b intersect in a common point 80. This point 8c is located along the line of greatest width of the blade in the fore and aft or longitudinal direction, and this point 8c is located rearwardly of the points 9a and 9b, the centers of the curves 8a and 8!) being at points spaced outwardly of the longitudinal line defined by the handle 1. The several edges 7, 8a, and 8b are sharpened.

The blade at its center point, that is, midway between the points 9:: and 9b, and approximately midway, also, between the front edge and the rear point 8c, is apertured for the reception of the squared point 5. Its aperture is square and the squared end 5 fits snugly therein so as to prevent twisting of the blade with respect to the handle. Moreover, the end of the tang 4 at the under surface of the blade is upset, and the blades aperture may be somewhat countersunk to receive the upset head, so that the undersurface is preferably completely smooth and planar.

Such a tool is employed by moving it forwardly at a slight inclination to the ground surface, so that it will submerge itself beneath the surface of the ground, whereupon it is drawn backwardly and forwardly, with a mopping movement, to sever the roots of weeds and so to cause them to wither and die. The convexly curved forward edge 7 pushes the dirt, the roots of weeds, and

other obstructions somewhat laterally aside when the .tool is pushed forwardly, and when it is drawn rearwardly the point 8c acts as a divider and again the curved edges 8a and 8b similarly push aside the roots and dirt and obstructions, with the result that the obstructions are pushed outwardly whether the tool be pushed forwardly or pulled rearwardly, and the effort is uniform in either direction. The only obstruction to the move ment of the tool, other than the thin blade itself, being the tang 4, which is small, the tool is drawn back and forth with great ease, and lies just beneath the surface where it stirs up the surface dirt and loosens it, which in itself is conducive to the establishment of the optimum growing conditions.

In sharpening the several edges it is preferred that the bevel or slope of the edge be from the interior of the blade peripherally outwardly and downwardly, so that the sharpened edge lies in the lower surface of the tool. The slope of the edges assists in holding the tool down beneath the surface of the dirt.

I claim as my invention:

In a weeding tool comprising a handle intended to be sloped forwardly and downwardly from the users hands, and having at its lower end a single down-turned, squared tang; a transversely elongate, flat blade terminating at its lateral extremities in oppositely directed, acutecusps, the forward cutting edge of said blade comprising a minor arc of substantially circular-segmental shape between said acute cusps, the rear edge of said blade having a cen trally disposed, rearwardly projecting obtuse cusp, said rear edge having two concaved cutting portions of similar curvature, respectively intersecting, at one end, the curve of said forward edge to form therewith, said acute cusps, with their opposite ends intersecting one another to jointly form said obtuse cusp, and the tang of said handle being connected at a point on said blade, aligned forwardly with said obtuse cusp and spaced substantially midway between the latter and the forward cutting edge, whereby said obtuse cusp and said cutting edges are unobstructed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 78,611 Saladee June 2, 1868 289,723 Still Dec. 4, 1883 537,204 Holly Apr. 9, 1895 1,437,199 Same Nov. 28, 1922 1,679,806 Bockstadter Aug. 7, 1928 

